The air regulator USA reported this Wednesday that Blue Origin must complete “21 corrective actions” before resuming launches, thereby closing an investigation into an accident in an unmanned vehicle in which the space company of Jeff Bezos last year.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported on the “mishap” on September 12, 2022, that an engine nozzle failure, caused by higher-than-expected engine temperatures, caused the New Shepard rocket to plummet to the ground shortly after liftoff, despite the capsule carrying experiments investigation escaped and returned safely to Earth.
“During the accident, the onboard launch vehicle systems detected the anomaly, aborted the operation and separated the capsule from the propulsion module as planned, and shut down the engine.”the FAA said.
Although it was considered positive that the capsule was ejected immediately and that a possible crew would have been safe, the closure of the investigation does not imply the “immediate resumption of New Shepard launches”the agency said.
“We have received the letter from the FAA and plan to fly soon”, however, said Blue Origin on the social network X, formerly Twitter. Since July 2021, Blue Origin has transported a total of 31 people, some as paying customers and others as guests. Bezos himself participated in the first flight. Virgin Galactic, the rival company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, has made four space flights so far this year.
Both companies compete in the nascent space tourism sector and offer services such as minutes of weightlessness in “suborbital” space.
Virgin Galactic tickets sold for between $200,000 and $450,000, while Blue Origin does not publicly reveal prices for its tickets.
Source: AFP
Source: Gestion
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